Ch.48: Dream and Reality (6)
Chapter 48: Bathory thinks back to the time, 200 years back, when she sat absentmindedly next to a black-haired woman, for 100 years after she was born. The only memory she has of the time, is of a woman that was laying down dead with roses around her, while the baby she was carrying in her belly was still alive. The marvel of the woman's unrotted corpse holding a live baby for 400 years, gave Bathory, who was sitting there absentmindedly, the courage to act in her life. So she decided to go out. At the nurse's office, Lark asks Setz if he can talk to him, but Setz is lost in thoughts. Lark is surprised by Setz's behaviour and starts wondering if he has said something wrong. He grabs Setz by the left arm and shakes him. Meanwhile, Setz is remembering his father announcing to him that Quz has given up his memory of Setz's birth, in order to erase Neal's memory, so the boy should be careful from now on with what he says. Angela suddenly yells, "Stop it!" and the two boys turn to her, surprised. Angela tells Lark that it doesn't seem to be the right time to ask Setz what he wants. She mentions that Lark has a last exam tomorrow and rushes him out the room, ignoring the boy's complaints. After the door shuts behind Lark, Setz asks Angela if she knows about him. Angela explains that she has lived for a long time, so she couldn't ignore Setz, like he couldn't forget Setz's friendship with Lark. She tells him that she wanted him to clear up the misunderstanding Lark has about him abandoning him. Setz coldly tells her to not meddle in his affairs, and claims it isn't entirely false for Lark to believe he was abandoned by him. Angela starts telling Setz that she knows why he changed. She calls him special and immediately adds that this is not his fault and that he doen't need to live in hiding. Setz greets his teeth and asks whose fault it is, if not his. Angela answers, "It's this world's fault." In Navarus' office, Sylvia is informing her master that Carne is asking about Neal's whereabouts again. She explains that the reason the girl is so fond of Neal is because she has met him after he was educated. She then asks what she should do about Setz. Navarus tells her to keep monitoring the boy's progress. He, then loudly, starts talking about his speculation that it might have been Setz's ability that kept his mother's body from rotting for 500 years, otherwise the whole situation doesn't make sense. This is even more possible, as the woman rotted away to bones, immediately after giving birth to Setz. He continues saying that when he tried to awaken Setz's ability nothing happened, but that might change once the boy reaches adulthood. He then commands Syvlia to also keep tabs on Gilles de Rais, since they can't let their guard down when it comes to him. Sylvia agrees with Navarus, while thinking that the man's beloved wife and her son are now mere tools for him. But, this doesn't matter to her, since she is willing to follow him no matter how he is. After being kicked out of the nurse's office by Angela, Lark is angrily walking at the Arzew campus, while loudly complaining about Angela's behavior. Bathory suddenly shows up from behind him and tells him that, as he has told him before, he can ask her if there is something he doesn't know. Category:Chapters